Over the past four years, it has often felt as though Portland's blackened crust/doom/chamber neofolk band Exulansis were one that only my gay ass cared about. Now, that was never true, but I'd never seen a solitary peep about them in the wild, which has converted me into a diehard evangelist for them and their 2019 masterpiece, Sequestered Sympathy. That record blended together all of those disparate genres in a way that just felt so natural, and to this day it remains the only album that sounds quite like it. So you can imagine my jubilee when I spotted an email from Exulansis (through their Bandcamp mailing list) announcing not one, but two new albums from these queer redneck anarchists through Bindrune Recordings—albums that released on the same day. There's Hymns of Collapse, where the band offer a sprawling, forlorn work of sublime neofolk, and, well, Overtures of Uprising here. With which Exulansis gift the world 32 minutes of pristine blackened crust adorned with chamber elements.
I cannot feign having no bias. I adore this band. I adore this album.
So I may as well get this pesky little rating out of the way now; we can skip any further artifice.
10/10
Trve
One of the things that makes Exulansis so fascinating is that they put the violin so front and center. Often in metal, the violin will serve a support role—but not with Exulansis. Andrea Morgan's graceful performances are inextricably woven into their songwriting tapestries, and this pays dividends in Overtures of Uprising. There is an unmistakable urgency to her playing; always powerful, lending a sense of majesty to the record that is utterly captivating. It makes me feel endlessly like I'm ascending, from opener "Of Nature & Hatred" to the final notes of closer "Dawning." She mentioned during the early listening party on Bindrune's Bandcamp page that she draws much inspiration from Jean Sibelius (consensus being that he's Finland's finest ever composer), and this invocation is evident in the commanding arrangements found within Overtures.
This album would be worth listening to simply for Andrea's performances, yet I would balk and glower at anyone who dared pretend as though the rest of the band were slouching. Recent addition Kevin Handlon totally kills it on the bass with this record, particularly on "Dawning." Stalwarts Ellis Ray (on vox and lead guitar) and Mark Morgan (on vox and drums) are tremendous as ever in their vocal duties, providing stellar duels of blood-curdling wails, growls, and shrieks. Especially after those siiiiiiiiccccckkkk transitions on "Of Nature & Hatred" and "Dawning"! Ugh, it's so addictive. Mark is a great drummer too, he absolutely pummels those things (see: the title track for a highlight in that regard). Ellis' contributions on lead guitar are more in a support capacity, given that Exulansis are such a violin-forward band, but they still have some great moments.
Sequestered Sympathy proved Exulansis to be capable songwriters, and this continues to hold true. Every track on this LP features some dizzying transition around every corner, some new thing they've never done before. Case in point: Andrea takes over vocal duties on "A Movement in Silence." Now, that in itself is not unheard of to fans of Sequestered Sympathy—she'd done so there on "John Bradley" and Best Song Ever contender "Dead Can't Die" too. But this is the first time she's ever done harsh vox (confirmed in the listening party), and DAMN! You know from the first scream that you're in for something special with this song, and the rest of it does not disappoint. This song is why I ended up leaving Fear Not by Anareta off of my year end list—an album which I still do love, but "A Movement in Silence" just feels like an unequivocal step up from. (for starters, the mix and production broadly are leagues better.) It is handily the biggest tearjerker of the year—an honor easily bestowed to a band who have been making me cry for years.
I've yet to gush over it in-depth in this review, but do not take that as meaning the title track is a low point for the album. Au contraire, it is a staggering epic unto itself. A testament to how titanic Exulansis sounds, it makes its 11:43 track length feel like half that with how mesmerizing it is, while swaddling the listener in such rousing performances, such god-tier songwriting. It's a third of the album for good reason.
You gotta hate it when lousy production scuppers an otherwise exceptional outing, and this is categorically not the case with Overtures. The mix is well-balanced, and there are some neat tricks played with the panning—most noticeable on "A Movement in Silence", albeit less prominent than that of "Mourn" over on Hymns. Hats off to Greg Wilkinson for the incredible job done on this'un.
Between Visions of Infinihility (by Carnosus), Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? (McKinley Dixon), and Overtures here, 2023 has been a standout year for short albums. Much like those other two, OoU swoops in, promptly kicks your ass, and then has you going, "well, it's only 32 minutes..." as you hit the play button again and again. It needn't surprise you that I think I've already eclipsed 200 spins of Overtures by now.
Overtures of Uprising bottles up all of that sense of awe and magic (with a k, if I'm feeling dangerous) I seek in trve metal ever since I first cottoned onto Dio in high school. And, pressingly, it feels like the ultimate catharsis after having championed the band for the past few years. Sequestered Sympathy was not a fluke, and this is a band who have already dropped three stunning albums in the span of 4 years. I can only imagine where they'll go from here. It is an album that activates every pleasure center in my brain, and that I can already foretell will place very high on my top 100 list of the 2020's—and is already sneaking up an all-time list that is topped by its predecessor.
What can I say? It's an easy 10/10 too.
10/10
Trve
Bandcamp
FFO: Anareta, Grayceon, Ludicra, SubRosa, Morrow
Release date: November 17th, 2023
Label: Bindrune Recordings | Album artist: Stephen Wilson
- Melody Jett Werner
